diff --git a/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/DefaultRawMemcacheClient.java b/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/DefaultRawMemcacheClient.java
index 48fb26a1..71a45278 100644
--- a/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/DefaultRawMemcacheClient.java
+++ b/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/DefaultRawMemcacheClient.java
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ public class DefaultRawMemcacheClient extends AbstractRawMemcacheClient {
   private final BatchFlusher flusher;
   private final HostAndPort address;
   private final Executor executor;
+  private final boolean isDirectExecutor;
   private final long timeoutMillis;
   private final Metrics metrics;
   private final int maxSetLength;
@@ -194,6 +195,7 @@ private DefaultRawMemcacheClient(
       int maxSetLength) {
     this.address = address;
     this.executor = executor;
+    this.isDirectExecutor = executor == null || Utils.isDirectExecutor(executor);
     this.timeoutMillis = timeoutMillis;
     this.metrics = metrics;
     this.maxSetLength = maxSetLength;
@@ -247,7 +249,11 @@ public <T> CompletionStage<T> send(final Request<T> request) {
   }
 
   private <T> CompletionStage<T> onExecutor(CompletionStage<T> future) {
-    return Utils.onExecutor(future, executor);
+    if (isDirectExecutor) {
+      return future;
+    } else {
+      return Utils.onExecutor(future, executor);
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/Utils.java b/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/Utils.java
index 11e5ed6f..4f9c6550 100644
--- a/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/Utils.java
+++ b/folsom/src/main/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/Utils.java
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 package com.spotify.folsom.client;
 
+import static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;
+
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -72,4 +74,43 @@ static <T> CompletionStage<T> onExecutor(CompletionStage<T> future, Executor exe
     }
     return future.whenCompleteAsync((t, throwable) -> {}, executor);
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Checks if an executor is direct or not. Direct means that the executor executes work on the
+   * same thread as the work was submitted on.
+   *
+   * @param executor may not be null
+   * @return true if the executor is a direct executor, otherwise false
+   */
+  static boolean isDirectExecutor(Executor executor) {
+    requireNonNull(executor);
+    RunnableWithThread runnableWithThread = new RunnableWithThread();
+    try {
+      executor.execute(runnableWithThread);
+
+      // We have the following cases
+      // 1) It is a direct executor, so runnableWithThread.thread will be set to the current thread.
+      //    We will correctly return true
+      // 2) It is not a direct executor and runnableWithThread.thread is still null when we check
+      // it.
+      //    We correctly return false
+      // 3) It is not a direct executor but the runnableWithThread.thread somehow managed to get set
+      //    before we check it. In any case, it can't be referencing the same thread we are in
+      //    We correctly return false
+
+      return runnableWithThread.thread == Thread.currentThread();
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      // If the executor throws any exception, it can not be a direct executor
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static class RunnableWithThread implements Runnable {
+    private Thread thread;
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+      thread = Thread.currentThread();
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/folsom/src/test/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/UtilsTest.java b/folsom/src/test/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/UtilsTest.java
index fe500663..5fd7f084 100644
--- a/folsom/src/test/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/UtilsTest.java
+++ b/folsom/src/test/java/com/spotify/folsom/client/UtilsTest.java
@@ -2,11 +2,14 @@
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ThreadFactoryBuilder;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class UtilsTest {
@@ -70,4 +73,24 @@ public void testOnExecutorException() throws ExecutionException, InterruptedExce
         });
     assertEquals("thread-B-0", future2.get());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testIsDirectExecutor() {
+    assertDirect(MoreExecutors.directExecutor(), true);
+    assertDirect(MoreExecutors.newDirectExecutorService(), true);
+
+    assertDirect(ForkJoinPool.commonPool(), false);
+    assertDirect(Executors.newFixedThreadPool(1), false);
+    assertDirect(Executors.newFixedThreadPool(10), false);
+    assertDirect(Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor(), false);
+    assertDirect(Executors.newCachedThreadPool(), false);
+    assertDirect(Executors.newWorkStealingPool(), false);
+    assertDirect(Executors.newWorkStealingPool(10), false);
+  }
+
+  private void assertDirect(Executor executor, boolean expected) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
+      assertEquals(expected, Utils.isDirectExecutor(executor));
+    }
+  }
 }